By Esmeralda Trevino
Contributing Writer
The Black Student Union hosted a fashion show in the Mary Sue Cushman room highlighting “50 years of Black Fashion,” where groundbreaking statements have been made in America. Hosts Elijah Brooks (C’18) and Davonya Flythe (C’19) took the stage to speak about what the audience should look forward to throughout the show. “We wanted to allow you to catch a glimpse of the last 50 years. Hair, clothes, style, and makeup are just some of things you will notice throughout tonight’s show,” Flythe said.
Each era was introduced through a video that asked different people around campus what their opinions of black fashion consisted of. A popular question was “What was your favorite era of Black Fashion?” the response to which was the 90’s. Each break in between the era consisted of trivia questions from the hosts and in their own words, the patterns and trends the audience should look forward to seeing.
From the 1960’s to 2000’s, many clothing pieces were accurately aligned to the political and musical changes throughout history. The plaid patterns, long coats, and fancy hats started off the show, where the audience also got to see fancy party dresses and outfits changing throughout each era to fit into the scene of America and its cultural climate. Black Panther attire and R&B attire stood out the most during the show. Models themselves were also diverse in terms of class year, body shapes, race, and ethnicity.
Participants from the show were proud to see all of their hard work come together. “It was a great experience to see all of the different outfits and walking to music specific to that era,” said Brandon Iracks-Edelin (C’18), who modelled for the show. “I thought the show was great and gave people the opportunity to see the evolution of fashion while playing black history trivia, and clips of fashion during the transitions period for models.”
“It was great to see how fashion has evolved over the decades and how it hasn’t. A lot of people were able to wear the same garment for different eras because fashion is always recreating itself. Changing in between was hectic because some of us were in back to back eras and the room was full of people. People were losing things and misplacing clothes but it ended up coming together in the end. It reminded me a lot of being in back to back dances in PMo. I’m definitely doing it again next year” said Chandler Davenport (C’19).